Yol.42 No. I 2001 I Ll/3 Jtule Uj I Tllllpltlc L T't Yclvw6j - ^ 20 Brown, Diesmos E Ahaln

l The State of Phtllptne Herpetolagl 19 THE STATE OF PHILIPPINE HERPETOLOGY AND THE CHALLENGES FOR THE NEXT DECADE Daring tbe tatne perirtd. tbere bat been let.r actiuity in ecological research and conteruatittu. ancl little or no actiuity in disciplines tach at behaaior, nicroeao/ution, reproductiue Reru M. BnowN, Anvnv C. Dtrslros, aNo ANcn C. biol- lgy, 0r popalation biologl'. Ix thit paper we reaiew a nodel Ar-cnt-e fetu studies and point out where others are hadly needed. Auailable biogeographic analyset, combined with new, First, there is a great need for more new basic re- unpa[tlished data, dent.on.rtrclte thdt the distributions of anphib- searc h focused on b iodive rs i ry conservat io tt, includittg system- iant and reptiles in tbe Pbilippines haue been ttrongly influ- atics, ecology, behavior, and current patterns of distibution enced by the nid- to late-P /ei.ttlcene format ion of seuera/ aggre- and ab u ndanc e. W itho ttt s uc h fundantenta I info r nat io n, c o n- gate island complexes at well at by clinatic gradients attociated servatton planning will be incornplete at best. with eleaation and a,ttbrlp0geTtic distarbances (priraarily cle- Heaney et al., 1999:315. forestation). Each Plei-rtocene aggrega.te island complex it a major center of biologica/ diaersity, and within tbese najor (and seu- The information needed to make sense of Asian eral other rninor) Iand nass amalgamatilnt, there exist numer- herpetology is not lurking in tlrc Literature; it is still out tlrcre in ous tub-centers of endernism and diuersitl centered on itolated tlrc rice padtlies and in the vanishing patches of nontane for- ntountains or mountain ranget. Ampbibians and reptiles rnay est. represent particalarly appropriate model organismt for the study Crombie. 1992:593 of tbese lerser centert of biologica/ organization due to tbeir ten- dency towardt finer-scale differentiation and isolation on tingle nzrntane "itlandt" and mountain ranget. Seueral recent studiet ABSTRACT haue began the process of integrating phylogenetic data, tpecies distribution data, and ttudies of tbe pr0ce.rr of speciation on uniqae nrntane habitatt, ltat rnany ,nrre dre needed. ln par* ,Tht herpetological faana (amphibiau and repti/et) of the Philip ticalar, tbe of nolecular s)ttlematicJ ttandt ()ut.tJ an im- I pines h extrenely rich in total species numbert, taxononic diuer- field mextely powerful tet of tool.t tbat ba.r yet to be ,apped by conter- sity, and percent endenism----especially when considered as afunction of aati0n biologists in the Philippines. aaailable land area. Tbe last 1 0 years of berpetological retearch in The last clecade hat .seen .reueral attemptt t0 ar,ieJr the the Philippines haue Jeen a dramatic inuease in interest in tax- clnJeraat;0n and pre- rnrrny, biogeq%phy, phylogenetic systernatict, conseruation, and !tatilr of nanl of the Philipltines' unique sumably tltreatened arnpbibians and reptiletJbzse effort.s baue biodiuenitT of Philippine tpeciet, especially atnphibians. ln tbe been bdrnpered by a general lack of knowledge, a paacity of batic last decade, oaer 50 prcuioutly uarecognized species baae been bateliae saraey data, a lack of integration, public disinterest, identified. Despite the publication of a recent field gaide to the bareaacratic obttacles to rctearcb, and b1, linitationt in retourceJ. anphibians of the Philippines, auailable speciet tumuaries antl The namber 0ne ca,tre of anphibian and reptile population de- diagnostic Aeys are cuffently oat of date because progress has clines clearly is catastrophic habitat deJtructi0n due to thc ac- been so rapid. Reuisions of these urrkJ are needed but tnust await tiuities of hamans. the completion of seueral conprehensiae taxonomic inuestigations cutrently in progrett. In general, ampbibiant (especially ranid frogs) haue receiued nore dttenti0n tban reptilcs. ^9illiman,Iournal Vol. 42 No. I 2001 Silliman "Iournal Yol.42 No. I 2001 I ll/3 JtuLe uJ I tLLLLPLtLc L t't ycLvw6J - ^ 20 Brown, Diesmos E Ahaln Introduction Compositionofthelastl0years'publishedliterature we considered only published papers Situated at the interface between the Oriental and For this review writing, accepted or in press) Australian faunal zones is the largely oceanic island (or ones that were, at the time of M'S' and/or Ph'D' nation of the Philippines. The Philippine islands are and unpublished undergraduate honors, data (theses and a few pa- home to a spectacular and diverse set of amphibian and theses. We mention unpublished in some cases but we can in- reptile radiations that have captured the attention and pers in review or preparation) private papers' or other imagination of diversity specialists and biogeographers contracte-d reports, "t.ra" not been or will not be peer re- since the first accounts of Philippine herpetological di- pseudopublications that have (see Literature cited section) versity appeared in the scientific literature (e.g', viewed. wehave compiled 109 Philippine herpetology from be- Boulenger, 1882, 1894, T920; Peters, 1863; Boettger, scientific publications on 2001 (Fig. 1). The annual publica- 1893; Taylor, 1915, 1918a, 1919,1920a,1920b, 1921, tween the years 1990 and 1922a, 1922b; Taylor and Noble, 1924; Noble, 1931 ; tionratehasremainedrelativelystable,withnotableexcep- Schmidt, 1935). The career of Edward H. Taylor in the tions(i.e.,inlgg5numerousarticleswerepublishedonrep- were published on amphibians in 1920's (Taylor, 1975) brought the Philippines to the fore- tiles while many articles front of global appreciation of amphibian and reptile 1999and2000).Thecompositionofthelastdecade'spub- research in sys- diversity as one of the world's major centers of lished record was markedly skewed towards and species diversity (Fig' herpetological diversity and endemism ' Later taxonomic tematics, taxonomy, biogeography, studies consisted of and biogeographic summaries (Inger, 1954, 1999; 2). The vast majority oi the remaining population biology and community stud- Leviton, 1963; Alcala, 1986; Brown and Alcala, 1970a, ecological (includes and only a very small fraction I978, 1980, 1994;Allison, 1996;Brown, 1997; Alcala ies; aid conservation studies (e.g', information on Quaternary and Brown, 1998) further promoted the recognition of addressed other subjects Reis, 1999; Reis and Garong' the importance of Phllippine herpetological diversity and herpetofaunal communities; articles that, in part' addressed stressed the unique nature, evolutionary history, and 2001) or were popular of amphibians and rep- remarkable diversity of Philippine amphibians and rep- herpetological topiis or biodiveisity Diesmos, 2000, 2001; Brown and tiles (see also Noble, 1931; Euellman and Trueb , 1994)' tites (geaney et al., 2000; aL The last l0 years in Philippineherpetelogieakesearch Alcala, 2000; Brownct J002)' have seen an increase in interest in a diverse range ofstudies studies and species diversity in set against the backdrop of an emerging period of unprec- History of herpetological edented taxonomic rediscovery, concern for conservation, and the PhiliPPines an increase in appreciation for biodiversity. The purpose of published papers on Philippine herpetology this paper is to review and analyze the past decade's progrgss' The first Boettger, Boulenger, Gtinther' Mertens' to consider its significance within the context of the history included the works of among others (see Inger' of Philippine herpetology, and to identify prospects and Peters, Weigmann, and Stejneger' Brown and Diesmos' this goals for future research and conservation. 1954;Bayleis and Adragna,1997 Yol' 42No. 1 2001 Silliman,/ournal Yol.42 No. 1 2001 ,silliman,/ournal volume). This "age of discovery,' philippine in herpetology The work of A. Alcala and W. Brown later sct thc marked the first exposure philippine of the outside worlcl to stage for present studies that continue in collaboration with herpetological diversity, and the papers that resulted were al- A. Diesmos and R. Brown. Currently, we recognize a total of most entirely descriptive in nature. The first worker to con- 101 species (78, or 77o/o, endemic) of Philippine amphibians centrate efforts on a comprehensive philippine review of (Fig. 3) and an approximate total of 258 (169 or 659,i, en- herpetofauna was Edward Harrison Taylor (1915-lOZS, see demic) species of Philippine reptiles (Fig. a), That estirnate Literature cited). In his numerous taxonomic works, Taylor will surely increase by 10-20% in the coming years as nu- recognized a total of 89 amphibians and approx imately 253 merous undescribed species are named in ongoing taxonomic reptiles. Later,Inger (l 954,1960a. 1960b; see also Hoogstral, reviews (R. Crornbie, pers. comm: Diesmos, Brown, and 1951) recognized 55 species of philippine Amphibia, reduc- Alcala, unpublished data). Surnmaries of taxa described in ing the species level diversity of philippine Amphibia by ap_ the last decade are presented in Tables 1 and 2. plication ofthe Polytypic Species Concept (see Brown ,199i; The vast majority of papers during the last l0 years Brown et al., 2000; Brown and Diesrnos, this volume). In the of progress in classification and recognition o1'Philiprpine mid-1950s Angel Alcala and walter Brown began a collabo- herpetological diversity have been species descriptions (c.g.. rative review of most major groups of (see lizards also Inger, Ota and Crombie, 1989 Lazell, 1992; Wynn and Ler,'iton. 1958, 1983; Musters, i983; Inger and Brown, l9g0) in the 1993; Alcala et al., 1998; Brown et al., 1995a,1999a,1999b; Philippines

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